Wick-raiser for lamps



(N6Mode1.) v

C. F. MOCARTY. Wick Raiser for Lamps.

No. 236,686. Patented Jan. 16,1881.

WITN 55.555

N. PETERS. FNDTO-LITHOGRAF'NIENA WASHINGTON.v D-

UNITED STATES ArtNr Fluch.

OREMORA F. MCCARTY, OF BOSTON, ASSIGNOR OF THBEE-FIFTHS TO FRANCIS AMORY, OF BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS.

WICK-RAISER FOR LAMPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 236,686, dated January 18, 1881.

Application tiled August 13, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Beit known that I, GREMoRA F. MCOARTY, ot Boston, in the county ot Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lamps, of which the following is a speciticatiou.

My invention relates to contrivances for producing heat by the combustion ot' oil. and more particularly to devices known as fountain-lamps,77 or those wherein a body of oil is heldin a reservoir on a level with or higher than the top ofthe wick-tube, where the tlame is produced. In these lamps the object is sought of keeping a full and copious supply of oil at the top or dame-producing part of the wick, not merely by absorption or capillary attraction, but by the force of gravity. It is sometimes desirable to use a iiat wick-tube with this class otl lamp-as, for instance, in heating flat-irons; but this has been found impracticable hitherto, because of thenecessity of openings in the wick-tube for a ratchet to raise and regulate the wick, and the fact that when so constructed the oil will not stand in the wick-tube higher than such opening. Another difticulty existing equally in this kind of lamp, and in any other where a high degree of heat is produced and an opaque chimney, such as a flat-iron, is used, arises from the fact that when such chimney is removed, the supply-current of air being diminished, combustion is imperfect and smokiness follows, and it is difticult, even where an ordinary ratchet is made to operate the wick, to work it so as to regulate the combustion properly when taking oft' or replacing such at-iron or opaque chimney.

It is the object of my present improvements to obviate these difficulties; and they consist in the described device by which the wick is raised by means of a sliding ratchet inside the wick-tube operated from the top or near it.

These improvements will more particularly and fully appear in the following description and in the drawings, in which- Figure l shows, in elevation, one form of a lamp containing my improvements. Fig. 2 shows a top-plan view of my improvements in one form. Fig. 3 shows a vertical section through the center of the wicktube on the (No model.)

plane of its shortest diameter, as constructed in Fig. l; and Fig. 4 shows, iu elevation, my improved device for raising the wick in the form here represented.

A is a lampbody, which may have the support and oilcouduit I), with au oil-reservoir, F, at the other end, held ou a stand, E, terminating iu a base ot any form at lhe lower part,

B is the circular top ot' the lamp-body.

O is a ledge surrounding the top ot' the lam pbody, having perforations to admit air-draft, and affording supportffor a chimney or a Hatirou or other structure which it may be desirable to heat.

Gr is a wide tlat wick-tube, containing' the wick H, and made otl a continuous oil-tight. tube from bottom to top, or nearly so.

is a small air tube extending from within the lamp to the top ot' the burner. which may admit ot increase of air as the oil is exhausted by the wick and permit the escape of any gas that may be generated in the oil-reservoir.

K is a thin piece ot' metal, which may be nearly as wide as the wick at the bottom and narrower toward the top, and which bears at the bottom small ratchet-teeth o o, projecting at right angles or a smaller angle from the surface of the plate K. I usually form them by cutting teeth in the wide end otl the plate K when it is flat and plane, and then bending the teeth over toward the body oi' the plate. At the top ot' the plate K is a pivot, g, projectingin the opposite direction from the teeth o o and at right angles to the plate, ou which, with distance enough between to admit free play outside the wick-tube, and the thimble I, when it is used, works the lever L. This 1ever L may be of any desired length, but reaches from nearly the top of the wick-tube to a point below the top ot the ledge O, as I prefer to construct it, and there takes another pivot, p, on which works another lever, M, which may pass through a cleat or loop, r, placed on the side of the wick-tube to operate as a fulcrum.

The operation of my contrivance is as follows: When the wickis being placed in the tube Gthe plate K is placed against it so that the teeth o o engage with it on one side, and. the pivot IOO q or the top end of the plate is near the end of the wick, when both are drawn down into the tube, so that the pivot q is in a slot, t, provided for it in the top ot' the tube G, the lever L being outside the wick-tube, and the lever M at nearly right angles to it, and extending outward beyond the ledge C. When it is desired to raise the wick it is done by pressing downward upon the outer end of the lever M, and when this has been done, until the allowance between the bottom of the slot t and the top of the wick-tube isA exhausted, the wick may be held with the trimming-shears, or otherwise, while the lever L is forced downward, carrying with it the plate K, which takes a new engagement with the wick, and so the process may be repeated.

I is a thimble or outer tube, made ot' thin metal, and inclosing the top of the mck-tube G.

Sis a pivot attached to the thimble I on one side, from which extends a lever, N, outward beyond the ledge C, and by which the thinible I is worked upward and downward upon the wick-tube G. The operation of this part of my contrivance is as follows: The thimble I is placed on the wick-tube G so that its upper edge corresponds with the top of the wicktube. The wick H is elevated to the proper height to produce, when the chimney or flatiron is on, the proper heat and combustion. lVhen the chimney or latiron is removed the outer end of the lever N is pressed, the thimble I is thereby raised sufficiently, and the wick-surface reduced, so that smokiness and incomplete combustion are prevented. l/Vhen the chimney or wick-tube is replaced and more draft is produced, the outward end of the lever N is raised, and the ihimble I thereby depressed.

Itis obvious that these devices may be used either together or separately; that the one regulates combustion at the top of the wick in a manner that may be easily calculated with an opaque chimney, and that the other affords to a flat wick-tube the advantage of being used with a fount as high as its top without leakage, and in such manner as to get the best possible head of oil at the operative end of the wick, a large fiame and intense heat being obtainable by burning oil instead of wick, and the difficulties suggested above are entirely7 overcome. Y Y Y I claim as new and of my inventionl. The described wick-raiser for a lamp, consisting` ot' a thin metallic plate., K. having points 0 0, for engagement with the wick, and an oppositely-projecting pivot, q, operating inside the wick-tube, and a connecting` and adjusting lever operating` outside the wick-tube, combined with said wick-tube, having a slot therein, as described, substantially as set forth.

2. rlhe combination ofthe plate K, having` the teeth 0 0, and the levers L and M, and the wick-tube G, having the slot t, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The combination, in a lamp, ofthe wicktube G, havinga slot, t, plate K, with toothed edge, inside the tube, and the lever L, outside the wick-tube, substantially as set forth.

GREMORA F. MCGARTY.

Witnesses:

CHARLns E. PRATT, WM. MCGARTY. 

